Meeker County Sheriff’s Office, MN : Human Acidosis and Catecholamine Evaluation Following Simulated Law Enforcement Use of Force Encounters

MCSO formed a cooperative partnership with Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) to research Arrest-Related Deaths (ARDs). Common factors of ARDs are highly agitated subjects, often with drug intoxication or mental illness, being restrained. Common tools and tactics used to control them include hands on actions, foot pursuit, use of pepper spray (OC) or TASER device, or canine use. ARDs may occur due to a combination of exhaustion (acidosis) and catecholamine excess (adrenaline surge). This research evaluated acidosis and adrenaline surge associated with common behaviors, tools, and tactics surrounding the control of persons at risk for ARD, using sixty human volunteers. The highest acidosis and adrenaline surge levels were seen with physical resistance, fleeing on foot, and canine resistance, in that order. Findings suggest law enforcement authorities should understand, train on, and utilize tactics that minimize the ability of the at-risk ARD subject to fight, resist, or flee and also minimize the time to transfer these subjects to appropriate emergency medical care. Research findings helped modify training to reduce the threat of ARD’s in subjects at higher risk.

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma Police Department (BAPD) and the University of Oklahoma – Tulsa (OU-Tulsa) collaborated on a managerial research agenda that has transformed the culture and administration of the BAPD. The project involves an ongoing ‘democratization’ process within the agency, including: 1) introduction of democratic management practices, 2) use of action research to engage both research partners in joint problem identification, intervention, and assessment. This approach generated new understanding of participative leadership approaches. The program has had dramatic impact on employee morale, motivation, work conditions, labor relations, and productivity. Citizen complaints have dropped and community satisfaction has risen. More than a dozen other police agencies in eight states have subsequently implemented some form of the BAPD shared leadership model.

This effort began with a partnership with Temple University’s Department of Criminal Justice to test the effectiveness of a new foot patrol program to combat violent crime. Researchers identified 120 of the most violent corners in the city. The top five percent of the corners accounted for thirty-nine percent of the robberies, forty-two percent of the aggravated assaults, and thirty-three percent of the homicides in 2008. PPD assigned foot patrols to 60 of these corners. At those sites, PPD assigned 240 new officers to foot patrol coverage sixteen hours, five days a week. No patrol or staffing adjustment was made to the other 60 corners, using those sites as the control group. New foot patrols were maintained for a period of four months. The researchers measured the effectiveness of this intensive personnel initiative. Impact in the foot patrol areas was significant: 1) violent crime decreased 22%, 2) vehicle-related crime decreased 12%, 3) drug arrests increased by 28% in the target areas, 4) pedestrian stops increased by 51% in the target areas, 5) vehicle stops and traffic enforcement increased 33% in the target areas, and 6) arrests increased 13%.